Hello! Welcome to our little corner of tumblrland…
I’ve been holding this message for awhile bc there are parts I don’t like that much either. There are parts that are boring, problematic, or other reasons not to like it.
Some ppl in the fandom actually HATE Lestat w/ a burning passion. They read the series for their love of other characters. There are ppl who adore Armand and pretty much just focus on his book and read the other books for snippets about him, which is totally fine!
Any story/movie/music/etc. (including VC) is like a bruised banana. Can you eat around the parts you don’t like and still enjoy the banana? I can. No one is forcing you to eat the whole thing. Skip the parts you really don’t like. You can always go back and read them another time.
What do you love about the series? Just stick with that!
Spoilerishness under the cut.
I’d say that skipping means you might miss out on something, tho.
Maharet’s information is good because it offers insight as to why Akasha is the way she is, and why she treats ppl the way she does. It’s good bc it sheds more light on the vampire origin story that will be developed much later in Prince Lestat. It’s good bc Maharet is one of the matriarchs of the species and she is a well-written female character in a series dominated by men.
Lestat’s getting new powers but each upgrade pulls him further away from the humanity he so desperately wants back, so the trade off, and how he deals with that later, is all good stuff. He’s uncomfortable exercising his new abilities. These upgrades also make him incompatible for Louis, who doesn’t want the powers or enhanced durability, so from QOTD onwards (until a later book in the series), Louis won’t drink Lestat’s blood. This makes bloodsharing (which is the Ricean form of intimacy) for them completely one-sided; Lestat can take blood from Louis but not give it back ;A;
As always, #your headcanon may vary, but from my own reading of the books and the characters focused on (the main coven), AR does not make it clear how much power the vampires have in the world* beyond the fact that they’re rich if they want to be (like Armand and Daniel owning and running the luxurious Night Island, a lucrative hotel/entertainment/casino/art-space/etc.), or not (Louis living in a dilapidated shack w/ few physical possessions).
Santino and the Children of Darkness might have had some impact with their religious zealotry, but targeted at the world in more of a negative way, a League of Shadows sort of group. Other vampires, especially the new ones introduced in PL, we don’t know much about their interest in economic or political influence.
Speaking of Louis…
he put the Coven of the Articulate’s stance very eloquently in QOTD (my emphasis added):
“It’s their world, not ours,” he said humbly. “Surely we forfeited it when we lost our mortality. We have no
right now to interrupt their struggle. If we do we rob them of victories that have cost them too much! Even in
the last hundred years their progress has been miraculous; they have righted wrongs that mankind thought
were inevitable; they have for the first time developed a concept of the true family of man.
… Don’t interfere with them.
Even if they kill each other! Give them time to see this new vision realized; give the cities of the West,
corrupt as they may be, time to take their ideals to a suffering and blighted world.“
Cut for length, not spoilers.
*That was the issue that was brought up in QOTD, whether they had a responsibility to have political power and/or have influence the world or not. There was a council of sorts, and some heavy debate was had, mainly on the part of Lestat’s ultra feminist SJW girlfriend vs. literally everyone else except Lestat who mostly sat there terrified into silence and not taking sides, and it ended with the general agreement that they shouldn’t meddle in mortal affairs.
This is partly bc writing their involvement into actual historical events could be difficult if not impossible (What, did they fight in WWII? Which side? How would that even work, concealing their vampirism from their fellow soldiers??!), and partly bc AR herself wasn’t very political back in earlier canon.
Even now, in the later books, AR keeps her world mostly separate from the Real World; IIRC, Hurricane Katrina was never mentioned in canon, and one would think that NOLA-branch coven founders Louis and Lestat would at least comment on that obviously devastating tragedy. At least one fanfic writer did take up the challenge of weaving in Katrina, and did it very tastefully. So it’s possible, but AR hasn’t gone there.
I’ve been avoiding this Ask for two days bc I generally do not believe in rating things, my love for a thing fluctuates, and I wouldn’t want to offend someone by saying their most fave VC is my least fave VC but I felt like this was a good challenge to try anyways. Apologies if I offended anyone 😛
Another thing that makes it hard to rate them is that ALL of these books are problematic and they all have stuff in them that is painful and scary but you have to understand that I love that stuff, I’m not afraid of scary topics, I dig into them and unpack them and find the benefit of them, so I want to rate the books partly on the Revised Pain Scale by Hyperbole and a Half:
And actually this was a pretty cool thing to do, and I highly recommend you try it! Not surprisingly, when I plotted it all out afterwards, it shows how powerful the series began, at least for me. You guys might want to map it out for yourselves, I’d be curious to see if other ppl get similar results!
So I did a rating for the Happy Scale (H) and Pain Scale (P). Assume the Happy Scale is the exact opposite of the Pain Scale, but escalating in Happy from 1-11 (11 being near-death happiness overload). Dates below are dates of publication, but for MTD onwards, they are also the years I first read them.
Hit the jump for the ratings and a little commentary ^_____^
It appears that my initial love for the first few books is what got me to keep going, I keep hoping for the same flavor as the first ones had, what addicted me in the first place. I find it in small amounts and it’s enough to keep me soldiering on with it.
You have to realize that when I got into VC in 1994, only the first 4 books were out. After that, I had to wait as each one came out to read it! Bingeing through them just wasn’t an option for baby!Burnadette 😛
Before I go into this I have to say there’s a lot I love about the books and a lot of great and happy things happen in them, too! I usually don’t believe in rating books, bc my perception of them changes over time and depending on different life experiences I’ve had. Essentially, “To define is to limit” -Oscar Wilde.I can see why it might benefit others, tho. So I tried to rate them according to what I feel now, and what’s been consistent.
Your rating will probably vary, it depends on your tolerance level for problematic things, and your love of specific characters, etc. obviously.
The Vampire Chronicles
Interview with the Vampire (1976) – The book that got me into this mess. So passionate, so much subtext, a dysfunctional little family that shouldn’t have existed or had half as much love as it enjoyed, but did both, unpredictable, and a supernatural story like no other that came before or after. 9H, 7P.
The Vampire Lestat (1985) – The book that changed my mind about Lestat and problematic characters as a whole. A force to be reckoned with who just won’t accept defeat. A royal fuckup and an inspiration, that one can fuck up that badly and still try to improve his lot in life, over and over again. 10H, 6P.
The Queen of the Damned (1988) – Lestat’s crazy girlfriend tries to take over the world. What a ride! 9H, 5P.
The Tale of the Body Thief (1992) – Lestat’s vacation as a mortal doesn’t go as well as planned bc of course it doesn’t. There was a lot of difficult stuff in this book but also a lot of comedy, and if you toss it just bc “bodyswap episode” seems dumb to you, you may be missing out on one of the most Lestatuesque displays of Lestat being Lestat. I think it had some catharsis in there, too, bc he has to let go of his idealization of mortality and chooses vampiring over being human. 10H, 7P.
Memnoch the Devil (1995) – When we thought this was the last book in the series, it was bittersweet. On the one hand, we had VC fanfic of the Bible itself, and being an open-minded person I thought that the concepts presented were very stimulating and there were some hearbreaking moments “NOT MY DEAD!” On the other, we had the last shot of Lestat, the last thing he tells us, “Let me pass now from fiction into legend.” Honey, you’ve been a legend since 1976. *cries* I loved it. 9H, 10P.
The Vampire Armand (1998) – He’s not my fave but this book was insightful and made me understand him and feel feelings for him. 6H, 7P.
Merrick (2000) – Initially did not like this, but over time it’s grown on me. I would have loved this book a lot more from Merrick’s perspective, or from Louis. The major thing that happens in it is one of the most painful in the series so that tips my pain scale, and the resolution of it is so good that it tips my happy scale a lot, some might say that event was a cheap thing to pull but I thought it made sense in the fabric of the story. Still think the characters should talk about what happened then, have they all decided never to bring it up bc it’s unpalatable? It deserves more in-canon discourse. 5H, 9P.
Blood and Gold (2001) – Marius gets a whole book! I didn’t judge it on the historical accuracy/inaccuracy, and yes, some of it felt like a retcon, but so many VC books are retcons, and we have unreliable narrators, so I liked it for what it was. 7H, 2P.
Blackwood Farm (2002) – Most of this is almost not a VC bc it’s about this totally fresh set of characters, who I didn’t really like, so I couldn’t engage too deeply with it. 2H, 1P.
Blood Canticle (2003) – Well what can we say about this Mayfair/VC crossover except what AR has said? It hasn’t worn all that well. As AU fanfic it’s pretty fun. There are some great moments. 7H, 2P.
Prince Lestat (2014) – Treated this like AU fanfic and it was pretty funny, there were flashes of the characters being very believable, but for the most part, 3H, 6P.
Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis (eta 11/29/16) – Pretty sure this is gonna be hilarious AU fanfic, predicting 5H, 2P.
New Tales of the Vampires
Pandora (1998) – I was never super into her, but I liked her story alright. Still a better love story than Twilight. 4H, 2P.
Vittorio the Vampire (1999) – I was never into him and I didn’t really care for his origin story idk maybe if I were more of a history buff I’d like him more… oh well. I should give him another try sometime but for now: 0H, 1P.
AR wrote Prince Lestat almost as a stand-alone book and lots of ppl seem to be coming into the fandom from that book without reading IWTV even… which is fine, and more power to them!
But IDK, I always tell ppl that they’ll get a lot more out of the series if you read the Vampire Lestat and Queen of the Damned first, bc her characters and storytelling were so strong and passionate in those books in a way that many ppl feel that Prince Lestat lacked.
Look I don’t like all of the books but I’ve read them all in order, partly bc I didn’t have a choice when I was younger and had to wait for them one-by-one, but also bc that’s the order in which AR explored the stories herself.
[^Armand nudging Louis into climbing a tower which is not at all some kind of phallic symbolism EMBRACE IT! by @garama]
I have these kinds of questions, too, things that have bothered me for years, I know that feel.
TL;DR: I don’t think the tower that Armand nudges Louis to climb is the same tower as Magnus’ tower. I think Armand has made himself several lairs, maybe bc of his later canon experience that having one lair isn’t all that safe. I don’t think Louis got to visit Magnus’ tower in IWTV.
One reason I think this is that when they get up to the window to let themselves in, it’s a window w/ a sill; Magnus’ tower had barred windows. It’s possible Armand had them changed, but why remove defenses on a such a secure fortress?
“Higher and higher we climbed, until we
had reached the window of the tower itself, which Armand quickly
wrenched open, his long legs disappearing over the sill; and I rose up
after him, feeling his arm out around my shoulders.”
Hit the jump for more.
I don’t think Louis got to visit Magnus’ tower in IWTV.
Why? BC that scene begins w/ Louis and Claudia going w/ Madeleine to burn down her doll shop. After she’s done, M and C run off to celebrate w/ a manicure (or smtg girly? IDK but Louis does not seem to be invited) and Louis goes off w/ Armand. They take off powerwalking towards the Seine:
“We were walking together now, fast, nearing the Seine,”
They come to some kind of older part of town that Louis doesn’t recognize, maybe they’re on the outskirts of the city, but they powerwalked there, didn’t take a carriage:
“I didn’t knew where we were now, only that in my wanderings I’d
passed here before: a street of ancient mansions, of garden walls and
carriage doors and towers overhead and windows of leaded glass
beneath stone arches. Houses of other centuries, gnarled trees, that
sudden thick and silent tranquility which means that the masses are
shut out; a handful of mortals inhabit this vast region of highceilinged
rooms; stone absorbs the sound of breathing, the space of whole lives.”
Here’s the tower:
“…
Above, I could see story
after story rising to a lone tower that barely emerged from the dark,
teeming rain. ‘Listen to me; we are going to climb to the tower,’ Armand was saying.”
Armand says, Don’t acknowledge it if the ppl see you or you’ll fuck this up for me, n00b:
“
‘But note
this. The inhabitants of this house have known me far a hundred years
and think me a spirit; so if by chance they see you, or you see them
through those windows, remember what they believe you to be and
show no consciousness of them lest you disappoint them or confuse
them. Do you hear? You are perfectly safe.’ ”
So I don’t think it’s that far outside the city.
Whereas, in the Vampire Lestat, when Lestat’s looking out the window of the cell in Magnus’ tower:
“It was evening. And through a wide, heavily barred stone
window I saw hills and woods, blanketed with snow, and the vast tiny
collection of rooftops and towers that made up the city far away. I
hadn’t seen it like this since the day I came in the post carriage…
Battlements. I opened my eyes again. And I knew I was lying
in a high tower room several miles from Paris.”
Lestat doesn’t mention that there’s anything around that tower except a little village he explores some distance away, when he’s an orphan wandering around alone.
The one issue w/ my theory that it’s not Magnus’ tower is that Lestat also says there are no higher towers.
Louis, IWTV: “… Above, I could see story after story rising to a lone tower that barely emerged from the dark,”
Lestat, TVL: “I ran to the edge of the roof and
looked down. Nothing but a sheer drop of hundreds of feet, and then
to another edge and it was exactly the same. I almost fell! I turned
desperate, panting. We were on the top of some square tower, no
more than fifty feet across! And I could see nothing higher in any
direction.”
^But I don’t think Lestat’s on Magnus’ tower yet, bc that’s the night he’s kidnapped, and maybe Magnus made a stopover for a quick bite first. So I’m sticking with my theory that Louis didn’t visit Magnus’ tower in IWTV w/ Armand.
But the important question is, why did Louis memorize this passage?
Idk there’s some discussion whether “poised” meant “boner” and I never interpreted that way, bc how awkward would it be for them to all be walking around w/ tents pitched in their pants? I THINK IT WOULDA BEEN MENTIONED BEFORE. Like in IWTV when Lestat first appears to Louis. Pretty sure Louis would have run screaming.
I think “poised” meant “waiting in normal default resting position,” which sounds alot less poetic, and I think his point in mentioning it was bc he woke up alot whiter, and it was bizarre to see that change all over his body. Plus all these women were coming into the room and they were barely able to keep from pouncing on his joysitck, bc, y’know, LESTAT.
^So I saw these screencaps going around and I felt like making a fresh post on them, w/ cleaner screencaps and a link back to the post for archival purposes.
Let’s not forget this is also the post that she definitively defines their sexuality and I love this term:
OMNI SEXUAL. Yesss.
In the article, she describes the L/L wedding, so I finally decided to throw in my commentary bc you all love it, don’t deny it. Here’s a sample:
Benji would make a speech; so would Gregory; and also Gremt Stryker Knollys. And also Jesse. And others.
Their speeches are all going to be along the lines of a roast of Lestat and he will sit there and fake laugh and plot revenge. Gabrielle will be asked to make a speech and she will simply lean into the mic and say: “Louis, darling? He’s your problem now.”
Hit the jump for an invite to the wedding of the century!
Ha, no not really, but close enough, right? On with it:
“If Lestat and Louis were to marry, it would take place in the private chapel of Lestat’s chateau in France.
Aww that’s really cute.
They would likely both wear their favorite velvet frockcoats— Lestat in red, Louis in black — in the old style, with a lot of white pearl studded lace at the throat and at the cuffs…
bc #FASHION. Tasteful white embellishment. Thank goodness Lestat’s not wearing a dress, or forcing Louis to wear a dress.
and they would speak their vows in a reverent whisper, and Marius, in a long simple burgundy colored velvet robe, would preside. They would exchange gorgeous and priceless emerald rings.
What vows can they make at this point? “I promise not to kill you again. Unless you ask me to. Even then, I would need some assistance. I’m not sure. Please try to behave in a way that doesn’t provoke me to want to kill you.”
The chapel would be filled with candles, incense, and white roses and white lilies, and all the closest of the vampire kindred would be invited, and the venerable old ones,
Yes ok I’m on board with all this…
including the great Servraine, Gabrielle, Gregory, and Lestat’s body guards, Thorne and Cyril, and other elders.
K for one thing you spelled Sevraine’s name wrong and secondly, what is Gabrielle wearing? Thorne had his eyes removed IIRC so I hope someone’s telling him what’s going on bc otherwise the whole thing is going to be a little less special for him…. And Lestat could explode like the state of Texas with his mind but he needs bodyguards? Not Best Men. Okay.
Armand in finest burnt gold brocade and lace would be best man for Louis.
Ok awkward former ex of 100 yrs is his best man now but whatever…
David Talbot in dark hunter green velvet and white linen would be best man for Lestat.
David is worth his weight in gold and then some. He will be the one handling all the Lestat Bridezilla tantrums.
A choir of Vampire boys led by Notker would sing a cantata from Bach: Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimmer — the Chorale or first part. (BWV 140)
^Okay the music sounds cool but WHO’S BRILLIANT IDEA WAS IT to turn a whole choir full of boys into vampires? Wasn’t the child vampire thing very not cool? Who were the Ad wizards who came up with that one….
Then a great ball would take place in the grand or great hall of the chateau: with Notker conducting a vampire orchestra and Antoine playing first violin and occasional solos.
Lestat will dance around with Louis in increasingly dramatic fashion until Louis catches Jesse’s eye, manages to slip out and Lestat doesn’t even notice Jesse has tapped in until he dips her and almost French kisses her.
Benji would make a speech; so would Gregory; and also Gremt Stryker Knollys. And also Jesse. And others.
Their speeches are all going to be along the lines of a roast of Lestat and he will sit there and fake laugh and plot revenge. Gabrielle will be asked to make a speech and she will simply stand up and say into the mic: “Louis, darling? He’s your problem now.”
After the first dizzying Tchaikovsky waltz and a few other Viennese waltzes, there would be a lot of Greek side by side taverna dancing on the part of the vampires, male and female, to Greek taverna music (electronic mandolins), and then the great arched windows of the ball room would be thrown open and those who could take to the air would go out in pairs and groups to hunt in Marseilles amongst the pimps and the dope peddlers.
No vampiry wedding is complete w/o a massive amount of murder at the end y’know? For refreshments. It’s better than a blood fountain, right? You know Lestat would make a mess out of that in 12 seconds. Or less.
(There wouldn’t be too many young ones at the ball, as given their need to hunt, and their inability to defy gravity, they cannot spend long nights in the country; Lestat permits no hunting in Lyon or the neighboring French towns of his old homeland. So they would send their regards from Paris, London, Marseilles, Berlin, Rome, etc. ) It could happen.”
No kids allowed! No kids’ table even?? The invite will say, “You must be at least 100 yrs old to attend.” Daniel and Jesse sneak in anyway, and when asked by the bouncer vampires what makes them think they can get in, they point at Benji and Sybelle and are allowed access immediately.
Your guess is as good as mine! I’m guessing Blood Paradise was pushed back to be published after this book. Could be that AR had this book ready and BP is not, bc planning a wedding is pretty complicated and all that!
And my guess, based on outside of tumblr discussions, for the PLROA (yes that is our new acronym gawds) book is that it will be mostly Amel telling us how awesome Atlantis was, and why it fell, and that there’s some unresolved thing for Lestat to swim run over there and fix, and then return to lounging around the castle or whatever they’re doing, bc the Proem seems to set up that everything’s been resolved and this is the report after the fact, like QOTD.
UPDATE: She changed the title of Blood Paradise to Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis:
FURTHER, that the Atlantis story had already been smtg she was working on for years and Lestat was added in later:
^fanart by @garama, who must have seen it live or the video of it, and has drawn fanart based on the musical, so he must have liked it! This is one of my all-time fave fanarts of Nicki/Lestat ❤ i just want to buy a whole graphic novel in this beautiful heartfelt style is that so much to ask *cries*
Some ppl loved Lestat the Musical, and more power to them! I am jealous of them. IDK if you saw the SF version or NYC version, live or video of it, but I saw the NYC version live and I did not like it. I partially blame the NYC producers for that, bc they apparently stripped out alot of the flair and gay stuff, maybe they were afraid it was pushing the envelope too far? But isn’t that what theatre is supposed to do? *sigh*
You can find ppl who enjoyed it, and other stuff about it, in my #Lestat the Musical tag.
Sadly, I mostly feel second-hand embarrassment for Lestat the Musical bc I made the mistake of inviting my cousin to go w/ me. She was not in the fandom, and she was uncomfortable the whole time *facepalm* Idk I thought she’d be into it, but the NYC version we saw was stripped so bare, and there was little to engage with. I can’t even listen to the soundtrack! It just brings me back to how disappointed I was in the bareness of the production, at the whole audience’s lack of enthusiasm… much cry, very sad.
So I have to be cautiously optimistic about the adaptation in the works and hope that they considered Lestat the Musical and can avoid its pitfalls.
One can criticize a work, create AU fanworks of it, or create an entirely original work. I would encourage everyone to write the story they want to read. Be the change you want to see in the world!
(^Unfortunately, many PoC in VC have unhappy endings. Keep in mind that she’s an evildoer in the book, which wasn’t explicitly stated in the movie. She murdered her clients.)
I’m a straight white lady, but I can understand how frustrating it must be to see one of your favorite authors release novel after novel in one of your favorite series and feel left out of the story bc your race/gender/etc. is not represented (or it’s fetishized, or represented negatively). I can understand how it might feel like the author is saying that you don’t exist (or matter enough) to them to place someone like you on their stage. It may be that they would love to write about a character like you but don’t have the knowledge/confidence/etc. to do the character the justice they need.
However, in my opinion, an author is not a vending machine. No matter how successful they are, an author is not required to cater to their readership. Sometimes they make an effort to do so, as in the case with J.K. Rowling supporting her readers in their headcanon of Hermione Granger as a PoC. (Another concise article on that here: X).
AR has always advised us to write the story we would want to read. Publishing houses turned her work down for years until she found one that chose her story for what it was. Knopf felt her story would sell really well so they took the gamble on it. A publishing house doesn’t want to invest huge sums of money in something unless they think the odds are very good that they’ll make a worthwhile profit. I would ask that the criticism be leveled more towards publishers than the authors of stories which lack representation.
In this day and age it is easier than ever before to self-publish and get your story out there. Anna Todd did that with her One Direction fan fiction, “After”, and here’s a quote from AR (w/ my underlines) about it bc I feel it’s relevant here: [X]
In the same post, AR writes: “And in this great world in which we live, no writer is really in direct competition with any other writer. There’s room for us all. We can each try our personal best to write the books of our dreams and to become the writers of our dreams. And I’m really glad Fifty Shades came along. I am happy for E.L. James. And I’m happy for all the people who like “Fifty Shades.“ ”
“…The amazing thing about the writing world is that there has always been a lot of room in it, and a lot of heartbreak. We’re never directly in competition with some one who makes it big; there are so many avenues, so many spots on the bestseller lists of the world…… We’re really in competition with ourselves, driven to outdo ourselves. That’s how I see it anyway.”
So, write the story you want to see in the world! If it’s compelling, others will want to read it, too.
List of more VC PoC under the cut.
(Not including PL characters bc there are so many! And some ppl do not recognize PL as canon. Go to wiki for those.)
David Talbot – he becomes Anglo-Indian
Davis – from the Fang Gang, not explicitly stated other than “black,” so African American, possibly.
Merrick Mayfair – mixed race
Tarquin Blackwood (I think he is, can’t remember specifically), and other supporting characters in Blackwood Farm.
Akasha – from Egypt
Enkil – from Egypt
Khayman – from Egypt
Avicus – from Egypt
Azim –
Himalayan? Maybe? He has bronze skin. That’s where his temple is.
Benji – Arab, Bedouin
Eudoxia – Can’t remember specifically, but I think she is a VoC. She is described as having white skin, but that may be due to her age (centuries old already when Marius meets her).
I-want-my-IWTV 